Besides selling lobsters to China through Alibaba e-commerce platform, Nova Scotia wants to enlarge it online business of live lobster.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Keith Colwell said the province signed a memorandum of understanding with Tmall-Alibaba to provide premium quality Nova Scotia lobster to growing online markets in China.

During this pilot project, which will be carried out from May to September, three companies from Nova Scotia will export 300,000 quality-certified live lobsters to be sold through Tmall.

The companies involved are Digby's Gidney Fisheries, Parker's Cove-based Nautical Seafoods and Bedford's Fisherman's Market, and each of them will ship out 100,000 live lobster, The Herald informed.

Robert MacDonald, Gidney’s president and general manager said there will be criteria built into the program to ensure the shipped crustaceans are of a high quality.

Perennia, a non-profit association to help farmers, fishers, and the food processing companies with innovation, has been asked to put in place the strict quality-certification procedure for this pilot project, including a quality standards manual, a training program and regular audits at participating export plants in Nova Scotia and the receiver sites in China.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Keith Colwell, explained, "Nova Scotia is known worldwide for its premium quality lobster and seafood, all harvested from the cold and pristine waters of the Atlantic Ocean."

The official pointed out that the agreement will establish a supply chain of Nova Scotia lobster to its largest market, while raising the quality standards in lobster and seafood industries even further.

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